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My colleague I-Kong Fu introduced me and several of other SAS colleagues to Nathan Gilliat, co-founder of AnalyticsCamp, which is an unconference for analytics. Whatever flavor of analytics you work with—web, email, social media, marketing, big enterprise BI, you name it—this is the place to meet and learn from interesting
Several times a year, I am contacted by a SAS account manager who tells me that a customer has asked whether it is possible to convert a MATLAB program to the SAS/IML language. Often the customer has an existing MATLAB program and wants to include the computation as part of
When I began my job at SAS in 1999 (I was only 14 years old at the time), one of my responsibilities was taking over the production of a listserv called NEWDOCNEWS. The listserv consisted of all the new titles from Books By Users (now SAS Press) and SAS Documentation
String comparisons in SAS software are case-sensitive. For example, the uppercase letter "F" and lowercase letter "f" are treated as unique characters. When these two letters represent the same condition (for example, a female patient), the strings need to be handled in a case-insensitive manner, and a SAS programmer might
Gerhard Svolba, author of Data Preparation for Analytics Using SAS, is working on his second book for SAS Press and this time around he’s also writing about his experience—writing the book. I’m really enjoying his weekly blog The Creation of the Book: Data Quality for Analytics. Gerhard, who resides in
Do you have many points in your scatter plots that overlap each other? If so, your graph exhibits overplotting. Overplotting occurs when many points have similar coordinates. For example, the following scatter plot (which is produced by using the ODS statistical graphics procedure, SGPLOT) displays 12,000 points, many of which
SAS Global Forum creates a big buzz in the SAS user community, so in order to find out what the fuss is about, I decided to chat with a couple of our instructors who would be going to Las Vegas. In addition to teaching pre-conference training, these two instructors will
The ODS Graphics Designer allows you to design and build your own statistical graphs in SAS, without having to learn how to program in the new graph template language (GTL). The ODS Graphics Designer is a rich user interface that allows you to design these graphs based upon your own
I don't use the SAS macro language very often. Because the SAS/IML language has statements for looping and evaluating expressions, I rarely write a macro function as part of a SAS/IML programs. Oh, sure, I use the %LET statement to define global constants, but I seldom use the %DO and
A few months ago I wrote a blog entry titled "SAS/GRAPH "SG" Procedures--Not Just for Statisticians!" It was so well received that I was invited to open for Celine Dion at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas! Well, not really, but I was invited (along with co-blogger Cynthia Zender) to give
I feel the experience of participating at SAS Global Forum year after year is like relishing a warm brownie! It’s the same treat but a unique experience every time. Subtle changes in the ingredients can lead to a unique and enhanced flavor. The team behind the scenes works hard to
Tapan Patel and I recently caught up with Dean Abbott, President, Abbott Analytics for a Q&A session on Predictive Analytics World that takes place during Data Driven Busines Week March 14-15 in San Francisco. Question: Any thoughts you would like to share for upcoming Predictive Analytics World 2011 Conference? What
If you haven't signed up for SAS Global Forum 2011 in Las Vegas, you'd better get moving: February 28 is the last day for early registration and the discounted hotel prices. You should also sign up for the pre-conference statistical tutorials, which are filling up fast! I was tempted to
As we discussed last week, the forecasting process is often contaminated by individuals whose input makes the forecast worse. Sometimes this is intentional. For example, if I'm tired of hearing customers complain about out-of-stocks on retail shelves, I'll try to drive up the forecast so that more inventory will be
Before you take off for SAS Global Forum in Las Vegas, take a trip to our training page to hear Aubrey Barfield interview SAS instructor Andy Ravenna about the event. He’ll talk about his session, Becoming a Better Programmer with SAS Enterprise Guide 4.3, which he will be presenting at